Premier League Predictions: Aston Villa v Swansea Preview

In this weekend’s preview for Aston Villa v Swansea read up on my prediction along with analysis for the match in week 19 of the Premier League. Included with each match preview are statistics and betting odds to help with your own predictions.

The week 19 Premier League Predictions have been posted, so go read up on my EPL picks for the weekend. You can use this preview for your own information or for any betting that you may do which can be done from any of the Premier League Betting Links here on the blog. Be sure to also check out the Premier League TV Schedule and 2013-14 Premier League Table.

Aston Villa must have thought they were going to see out a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace on Boxing Day, but instead were undone by a last minute breakaway goal by Dwight Gayle. Prior to this they had dominated possession and did well keeping Palace out, but they did allow seven of 12 shots on goal with only three of those blocked. With 65% possession they needed to do better defensively to keep Palace from getting so close to goal.

On the offensive side they were without the misfiring Christian Benteke and had only ten shots with four of those on target. This loss made it four consecutive Premier League losses and leaves them winless in six of their last seven.

Swansea City travelled to Stamford Bridge to face a Chelsea team that has begun to build a solid defense following a string of mistakes. This was quite apparent in the game with Swansea keeping 55% of possession but only managing to get eight shots. The problem from there was their inability to create good chances with only one of those shots actually on target. Scoring has become an issue lately with Michu now out for a couple months and having not played as well this season as last. In recent weeks they have only managed to score more than one goal in the EPL in their last win, 3-0 against Newcastle United. In their last six matches away from home they have only scored more than once in their 2-1 win over Fulham and four times have been held to no goals.

I’m predicting a low scoring Swansea City win. Aston Villa had previously focused on playing long balls downfield but against Crystal Palace actually put 420 of their 533 passes short. This is very close to Swansea’s 432 of 528 short passes on Thursday, with Swansea being the team with the most passes this season. It seems likely that Aston Villa will attempt to use long balls again against Swansea, especially considering how much Swansea tends to dominate possession (season average of 59%) coupled with Villa’s inability to create good goal scoring chances against Crystal Palace.